Circuit reclosing device



g 11, 1931- M. J. SEALE CIRCUIT RECLOSING DEVICE Filed Dec. 5, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet l A ltorney Au .11,1931. v ;.;A. .E 1,818,818

CIRCUIT REGLOSING DEVICE Filed Dec. 5, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Invento;

11/. J Seale V By %%T Q I V A llomcy Patented Aug. 11, 1931 PATENT OFFICE mrcnnm. J. SEALE, or BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA CIRCUIT BECLOSING DEVICE Application filed December 5, 1927. Serial No. 237,784.

My invention relates to circuit reclosing devices, more particularly to automatic re-' closing. devices including mechanism foreffecting successive restoration of the circuit breaker a predetermined number of times,

and has for its object the provision of apparatus of the character designated which shall be simple of construction, reliable of operation and which shall be fully automatic in operation.

A further object of my invention is to provide an automatic circuit restoring device capable of effecting restoration of the circuit a predeterminednumber of times in succession, from a normal operating position with the circuit closed, and which shall automatically reset itself to its normal operating position upon reclosing of the circuit.

A still further object of my invention is the provision of an automatic circuit restoring device including means for resetting the the circuit is restored, and in which the redevice to a normal operating position after setting of the device after restoration of the.

circuit is delayed a predetermined interval of time.

Another object of'my invention is the provision of an automatic circuit restoring'device capable of effecting successive restoration of the circuit a predetermined number of times, from a normal operating position with the circuit closed, whereupon the circuit must be manually reclosed, and to provide means responsive to manual reclosing I ,35 of the circuit to automatically reset the device to its normal operating position.

As is well understood in the art to which my invention relates, electric circuits are ordinarily provided with automatic .circuit .40 breakers which operate in response to disturbances in the circuit, such as an overload, a short circuit or other disturbance, and open the circuit to permit correction of the dis-, turbing condition before the circuit is again closed. It is also well understood that such disturbances may be of very short duration so that the circuit may be reclosed after a very short interval of time. In order to avoid the necessity of manual reclosing of a circuit under such conditions, it has become ommon practice to provide automatic reclosing devices which operate responsive to the opening of the circuit to reclose it after a suitable interval of time. In order to meet conditions where the line disturbance is of a relatively long duration, such as to cause the circuit to be immediately re-opened upon its being reclosed the first or second time, these automatic devices are usually designed to effect successive restoration of the circuit a predetermined number of times whereupon they are caused to become inoperative until they are reset. Furthermore, in all such devices, as heretofore known to me,- upon manual restoration of the circuit, after its reclosure the predetermined number of times, no means are provided for the prompt automatic resetting of the device.

In accordance with my invention, I have provided an automatic circuit reclosing de-- vice which automatically resets itself after every operation, whether it be a reclosing of the circuit breaker any number of times less than the number of successive reclosures for which it is designed, or whether it be upon manual restoration of the circuit after the device has operated the predetermined number of times for which it is designed. F urthermore, the device is adapted for a wide field of application'as to time interval be- '80 tween successive reclosures of the circuit, time interval between reclosure of the circuit and automatic resetting of the device, and the number of successive reclosures for which it is effective.

Briefly, my invention comprises electrical- 1y controlled mechanism for actuation of the device from a normal position, with the circuit closed, to efiect successive restoration of thecircuit a predetermined number of times, resilient means for effecting reverse operation of the mechanism upon restoration of the circuit for a predetermined interval of time, and means responsive tomanual reclosing of the circuit after the device has operated successively the number of times for which it was designed, to reset, automatically, the device to its original normal position.

Apparatus embodying features of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming a part of'this application, wherein: 1

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the device;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line IIII of'Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the ap aratus takien along the plane III-III of ig. 2; an

Fig. 4 is a side view of the device with its wirin diagram.

Re erring now to the drawings for a better understanding of my invention, I show a casing 10 enclosing a rotary circuit control member 11 having a hub 12, said hub being loosely mounted on a shaft 13 journaled in the casing 10. The rotary member 11 is biased to a normal operating position, with the circuit closed, by means of a spring 14 having one end secured to the hub 12 and the other end secured to a stationary member 16 supported by a pedestal 17 mounted on a stationary member near the bottom pf the casing 10. An axially extending pin 18, carried by the rotary control member 11, bears against the pedestal 17 when the rotary element 11 is in its normal position, by reason of the tension of thespring 14.

Carried by the rotary control member 11 are a plurality of radially extending pins 21, 22 and 23 which are adapted, upon rotation of the member 11 in a clock-wise direction, as viewed in Fig. 4, to engage a member 26 carried by a shaft 27 journaled in the casing 10 and bearing, on one of its outer ends, a contact arm 28. The action just described raises the contact arm 28 into engagement with a stationary contact 29 supported by the casing. The-contact arm normally rests against a stop 30, provided on the casing 10, and is yieldingly held in that position by means of a spring 35. The making of the contactjust described serves to reclose an automatic circuit breaker in a manner to be described later. The arm 26 is yieldingly held in a normal position on the shaft 27 by means of a detent 31 and a spring 32. The detent 31 prevents relative rotation between the shaft 27 and the arm 26, when the arm 26 is engaged by one of the pins 21, 22or 23. The relative lengths of the arm 26 and the radially extending pins is such that the pins may raise the arm 26 to bring the contacts 28 and 29 into engagement and then slide past the arm 26. The spring 32 permits the arm 26 to be moved downwardly about the shaft 27, upon reverse rotation of the rotary control member 11, so that the pins 21, 22 and 23 may pass when the rotary member 11 is being returned to its normal position.

Carried by the rotary control member 11 is a clutchelement 36 which is adapted to cooperate with a second clutch element 38, which latter is splined to the shaft 13. The shaft 13 is driven by a motor 39 through a train of reduction gears 41, which include a worm gear 40. At 42 is shown a coil having a magnet 43 which is adapted, upon energization of the coil, to attract an armature 44 connected to a shaft 46. The shaft 46 controls a lever 47 pivoted at 48 on the casing. 10 and extending across in front of a collar 49 provided on the clutch element 38. The clutch element 38 is biased toward the clutch element 36, at all times, by means of a spring 51 surrounding the shaft 13. When the coil 42 is energized, causing movement of the shaft 46 toward the magnet 43, the lever 47 moves away from the collar 49 and the spring 51 pushes the elements 38 and 36 into engagement, whereupon the motor 39 drives the rotary control element 11 in a clockwise direction as shown in Fig. 4. Carried by the shaft 46 is a lug 52 having attached thereto a spring 53, connected at its other end to the casing 10, and which acts to bias the shaft 46 in a direction to hold the clutch elements 38 and 36 disengaged. When the coil 42 is de-energized the spring 53 pulls the armature 44 away from the magnet 43 so as to disengage the clutch elements 38 and 36.

Loosely mounted on the shaft 13 is a second rotary member 56 having a hub 57. A spring 58, similar to the spring 14 alread descrlbed, has one end attached to the hu 57 and the other end attached to the stationary member 16 and serves to yieldingly hold the member 56 in its normal position. Carriedon the inner side of the rotary member 56 is a lug 61 which, when the two rotary members are in normal position as shown, abuts against the pin 18 carried by the rotary control member 11. The rotary member 56 is provided with a plurality of axially extendin holes 62, spaced at intervals around t e rotary member 56, and adapted to receive a pin 63 carried by an arm 66 rigidly mounted on the shaft 46. The pin 63 extends through a hole 65 in the side of the casing to prevent its lateral displacement. The length of the pin 63 is such that when it is entirely out of one of the holes 62,

the clutch elements 38 and 36 are in engage- 'of the contacts 28 and 29. An auxiliary source of current such as a battery- 77 supplies the current for the circuit 76. The battery 77 also supplies current for a lighting circuit 78 controlled by an auxiliary switch 79 connected to the circuit breaker 7 3. If desired, the circuit 78 may control a red light R which, when lighted, indicates that the circuit is closed. A normally open circuit 81 leads to the coil 42 and is arranged to be closed by the auxiliary switch 79 when the circuit 71 is open. Included in the circuit 81 is a green light G which, when lighted, indicates that the circuit 71 is open and the circuit restoring device is in operasaid pin to open the contacts 87 and 88 after the device has operated to restore the circuit the maximum number of times for which it is designed. The circuit 86 continues from the contact 87 to astationary contact 93 supported from the casing 10 (see Fig. 1). A

contact 94 carried by a resilient member 96 also supported from the casing lies in the path of the lug 52 provided on the shaft 46, so that, when the coil 42 is energized, and the shaft 46 moved toward the coil, the member 52 engages the contact '94 and presses it against the contact 93 to complete the motor circuit.

, The operation of my improved circuit restoring device is as follows:

When the circuit breaker 73 opens, due to any disturbance in the line, the auxiliary switch 79 completes-the circuit 81 and energizes the coil 42. The coil 42 then draws the armature 44 toward it, completing the motor circuit 86 by bringing the contacts 93 and 94 together and also moves the lever 47 away from the collar 49 ofthe clutch element 38, permitting the spring 51 to push the clutch elements 38 and 36 into engagement. The rotary control element 11 starts turning and turns until the pin 23 strikes the arm 26 and moves it upwardly to bring the contacts 28 and 29 together, completing the reclosing circuit 76. At this time, the pin 63 is out of thevhole 62, leaving the rotary-element 56 free to rotate, which it does by reason of the pin 18 being in engagement with the lug 61. When the coil 74 is ener gized by the completion of the circuit 76, the circuit breaker 73 recloses, and the auxiliary switch 79 breaks, the circuit 81, de-energizing the coil 42. When the coil 42 is de-energized the shaft 46, with the arm 66 and the pin 63, moves toward the rotary element 56 to break the motor circuit 86 and to disengage the clutch elements 38 and 36. The holes 62 in the rotary element 56 are so spaced and located with respect to the radial pins 21, however, that the pin 63, upon being returned by the springs 53, falls between holes 62 preventing the breaking of the motor circuit 86 and holding the clutch elements 36 and 38 in engagement. During this time the motor continues to operate, continuing rotation of the control element 11, with the pin 63 sliding on the surface of the rotary member 56 until one of the holes 62 comes opposite the pin 63, whereupon the pin 63 drops into the hole 62 breaking the motor circuit 86, and the lever 47 disengages the clutch elements 36 and 38. When this has been done, the spring 14 immediately causes reverse rotation of the control element 11 to its'original position.

.The feature of preventing the motor circuit from being broken immediately after the circuit breaker is closed is an important one, in that it introduces a time element for the successive operations of the device. If the disturbance in the line 71, which first caused the circuit breaker 73 to operate, has not righted itself by the time the circuit is first restored and if, under such conditions, the control element 11 had been permitted to start to reset immediately upon the restoration of the circuit, the immediate reclosing of the circuit, after a second operation of the circuit breaker 73, might lead to damage to the circuit breaker.

When the circuit breaker 73 opens the circuit 71 and is reclosed a single time, or any number of times less than the maximum number of reclosures for which the apparatus is designed, and remains closed a sulficient period of time for the pin 63 to drop into one of the holes 62 to stop the motor and disengage the clutch elements 36 and 38, the rotary control element 11 is reset by the spring 14 so that it is ready for the maximum number of operations, determined by the number of radial pins on the rotary element, for which it is designed.

Where the disturbance in the circuit 71 is such as to cause repeated operations of the circuit breaker 73, the clutch elements 36 and 38 are held in engagement and the contacts 93 and 94 are held together, maintaining the motor circuit 86, by reason of the repeated energization of the coil 42 and the fact that the pin 63 always drops back against the side of the rotary 'element 56 when the coil 42 is tie-energized. Under such conditions, the contacts 93 and 94 are held together maintaining the motor circuit close. The rotary control element 11 accordingly continues to be slowly turned by the motor until the pins 21, 22 and 23 have successively struck the arm 26, successively completing the circuit 76 through the contacts 28 and 29, successively energizing the coil 74 and successively reclosing the circuit breaker 73. After the circuit has been suc-' support 91 of the contact 87, breaking the motor circuit 86 and thus stopping the device from further operation. The worm gear 40 acts as a lock to prevent reverse rotation of the control element 11 until the clutch elements 36 and 38 are disengaged. When the motor is thus stopped the coil 42 is energized by reason of the circuit breaker being opened and the switch 79 closing the circuit 81, so that the armature 44 is held against the magnet 43, with the pin 63 clear of the rotary member 56. In this position, that is, when the pin 18 strikes the arm 92, separating the contacts 87 and 88, the member 56 has been turned until the pin 63 is directly over one of vthe holes 62 so as to be free to drop into the hole immediately the coil 42 is de-energized.

When the circuit is'again reclosed, it must now be done by the operator. This may be done by manually closing the contacts 28 and 29, as by a key 95, to complete the reclosing circuit 76. The coil 42 is then de-energized, the pin 63 drops into the hole 62 and the rotary control member 11' is automatically reset, by the spring 14:, to its original position.

When the circuit breaker 73 opens the circuit 71 after any one or more operations, and the pin 63 is withdrawn from one of the holes 62,-by action of the coil 42 the spring 58 causes reverse rotation of the rotary member 56. until the lug 61 again engages the pin 18, thus placing the rotary members 11 and 56 in their original relative positions.

It will be obvious that, in the design of the apparatus, the position of the lug 61, with respect to the axially extending pin 18, may be varied; the relative positions and number of radial pins, such as 21, 22 and 23 may be varied; also the speed of the motor or the reduction gear ratio between the motor and theshaft 13, or both, may be varied; all-to vary the operating characteristics of the device. By varying the position of the lug 61, with respect to the pin 18 and the adjacent hole 62, the time between the closing of the circuit, when it remains closed, and the resetting of the device can be varied. By varying the relative positions of the radially extending pins, or by varying the number, or both the number and positions, the time interval between successive reclosures of the circuit may be varied. Furthermore, the number of successive reclosures before a final breaking of the motor circuit and stopping of the device, may be determined by the number of radial pins provided on the rotary control element 11. The time between successive reclosures of the circuit may also be varied by varying the speed of the driving motor or the gear ratio between the motor and the shaft 13, or by both. Furthermore, the operation of the device may be varied to suit conditions by a combination of the above methods.

Fromthe foregoing, it will be apparent that I have devised an improved circuit restoring device which is simple of construction and of operation, the operation of which may be varied widely to suit the particular needs of the circuit with which it is associated, and which automatically resets itself to its original operating position upon reclosing of the circuit.

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptiLle of various changes and modifications, without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or as are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In electrically controlled mechanism for automatically efiecting the operation of a circuit recloser associated with a circuit breaker successivey a predetermined number of times starting from a normal position when the circuit breaker is closed, the combination of a rotary control member in the mechanism, a reclosing circuit for said breaker, means for effecting successive energizations of said circuit during rotation of said member in one direction, driving means for said control member, means operable responsive to opening of the circuit breaker to connect said driving means to said member to rotate it in the direction to effect reclosing of the circuit breaker, resilient means operable upon closing of the circuit breaker to effect substantially instantaneous reverse rotation of the rotary member to its original position, and means to delay said reverse rotation a predetermined interval of time after the circuit breaker is closed. 1

2. In a device for effecting operation of a circuit recloser associated with a circuit recloser associated with a circuit breaker a predetermined number of times in succession starting from a normal position when the circuit breaker is closed, a rotary control member, a reclosing circuit for said breaker, means for effecting successive energizations of said circuit during rotation of said member in one direction, a motor for driving the rotary control member in a direction to effect reclosing of the circuit breaker, separable means connecting the motor to the control member, means responsive to open ing of the circuit breaker for effecting connection between the separable elements, means responsive to reclosing of the circuit breaker for effecting disengagement of the separable elements, means for effecting reverse rotation of the member to its normal position upon disengagement of said separasive actuation of a circuit recloser associated with, a circuit breaker starting from a normal position of the mechanism when the circuit breaker is closed, a rotary control member included in the mechanism, a reclosing circuit for said breaker, means for effecting successive energizations of said circuit during rotation of said member in one direction, resilient means for biasing the rotary control member to its normal position, a motor for driving the control member in the direction to effect successive operation of the recloser,

means responsive to closing of the circuit breaker for disengaging the motor drive from the member whereupon the resilient means restores it to its normal position, and means for delaying the disengagement of the motor for a predetermined interval-of time after the circuit breaker is reclosed.

4. In a mechanism for e'fi'ec'tingfihe operation of a circuit recloser associated with a circuit breaker, a rotary control member for effecting successive actuation of the recloser, means for biasing the rotary control member to a normal starting position when the circuit breaker is closed, a motor for driving the member in a direction to effect successive actuation of the recloser, a motor circuit, separable clutch elements between the motor and the rotary member, electromagnetic means energetically responsive to the opening of the circuit breaker for effectmg engagement of the clutch elements and,

for closing the motor circuit, a second rotary member driven by the rotary control member, means for disengaging the clutch elements and for opening the motor circuit upon reclosing of the circuit breaker, and means controlled by the second rotary member for delaying the disengagement of the clutch elements and opening the motor circuit a predetermined interval of time.

5. In mechanism for efi'ecting operation of a circuit recloser associated with a circuit breaker, the combination of a motor, a motor circuit, a rotary control element driven'by the motor, a disengageable clutch between the motor and the rotary control element, electro-magnetic means energetically responsive to opening of the circuit breaker for completing the motor circuit and effecting engagement of the clutch elements to rotate the control member, means responsive to rotation of the control member for effecting operation of the recloser, a second rotary member co-axially arranged with the rotary control member and having a plurality of spaced circumferential recesses, a lug on the second rotar member, a pin on the rotary control mem rotary member,

r adapted to engage the lug and drive the second rotary member, a pin movable in response to energization of the electro-magnetic means and fitting in one of the recesses of the second rotary member when the motor circuit is open and the clutch elements disengage, said recesses being so spaced that when the circuit recloser is operated responsive to rotation of the rotary member, the pin movable in response to energization of 1 the electro-magnetic means is between two of the recesses.

6. In mechanism for effecting operation of a circuit recloser associated with a circuit breaker, thecombination of a motor, a motor circuit, a rotary control element driven by the motor, a disengageable clutch between the motor and the rotary control element, electro-magnetic means energetically responsive to opening of the circuit breaker for completing the motor circuit and effect mg engagement of the clutch elements "to rotate the control member, means responsive to rotation of the control member for eflecting operation of the recloser, a second rotary member co-axially arranged with the first mentioned rotary control member, and having a plurality of spaced circumferential recesses, a lug on the second rotary member, a pin on the first mentioned rotary control member adapted to engage the lug and drive the second rotary member, a pin movable in response to energization of the electrO-magQ netic means and fitting in one of the recesses of'the second rotary member when the motor circuit is open and the clutch-elements disengaged, said recesses being so spaced that when the circuit breaker is reclosed by the the pin movable in response to energization of v the electro-magnetic means is between two of the recesses, and resilient means for returning both rotary control members to their original positions when released.

In testimony whereof I, MITCHELL J. SEALE, afliX my signature.

MITCHELL J. SEALE. 

